Developing nursing students’ digital capabilities to enhance public health
Intended for healthcare professionals
Evidence and practice    

Developing nursing students’ digital capabilities to enhance public health

Guy Dominic Collins Senior lecturer, School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Derby, Derby, England

Why you should read this article:
  • To enhance your awareness of the importance of nurses developing digital literacy and proficiency

  • To reflect on nurses’ role in contributing to the United Nations’ sustainable development goals

  • To read about an innovative student assignment linking digital literacy and public health improvement

The use of digital technologies is growing across healthcare settings and nurses will increasingly need to demonstrate digital literacy and proficiency. This article discusses an innovative module assignment that nursing students undertake as part of their preregistration curriculum at the University of Derby, England. Students are tasked with developing a digitally interactive poster detailing an intervention that would enhance public health. Students’ projects must be underpinned by the United Nations’ sustainable development goals and relate to an innovative health technology, a community-led intervention, a local public health campaign, a creative health improvement pathway or public access to evidence-based health information. The module assignment provides an example of how to link digital literacy and public health improvement in nurse education and how nurse educators can help develop the digital capabilities of future nurses.

Primary Health Care. doi: 10.7748/phc.2024.e1846

Peer review

This article has been subject to external double-blind peer review and checked for plagiarism using automated software

Correspondence

g.collins@derby.ac.uk

Conflict of interest

None declared

Collins GD (2024) Developing nursing students’ digital capabilities to enhance public health. Primary Health Care. doi: 10.7748/phc.2024.e1846

Published online: 20 November 2024

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